How do we know this? Over the past two years, Department of Health inspectors have found multiple – multiple – examples of Virginia’s abortion centers violating state and federal drug laws and regulations. This list includes (but is by no means limited to) the following:

In its October 14, 2014 inspection report of the A Capital Womens Health Clinic in Richmond, Department of Health officials found unlicensed staff handling narcotics and improper documentation of narcotics:

“Observations were conducted on 10/14/14, at approximately 11:00am, with Staff #1 and #2. During the initial tour of the facility, the observation revealed Staff #1 and #2 were in control of the keys to the locked narcotic cabinet. Staff #2 prepared to count the narcotics with the surveyors. Staff #1 informed Staff #2 and the surveyors that he/she had accepted delivery of narcotic medications, which ‘have not been added to the count.’ Staff #1 stated, ‘The narcotics I received today are in a plastic bag inside the [narcotic] cabinet.’ Review of personnel files revealed Staff #1 and Staff #2 were not licensed healthcare professionals. The personnel files for Staff #1 and Staff #2 did not have documented approval from the governing body to accept the delivery of narcotics and to possess keys to the locked narcotic cabinet.”

In its December 17, 2014 inspection report of the Annandale Women & Family Center, officials reported a lack of required background checks for staff handling narcotics, failure to properly document narcotics and lack of oversight of narcotics:

“The COV section 32.1-126.02 requires a CRC be obtained on any compensated employee not licensed by the Board of Pharmacy, whose job duties provide access to controlled substances within the facility. CRC checks had not been obtained for Staff Person #1, a Registered Nurse, Staff Person #7, a physician, and Staff Person #8, a physician.

“Review of the facility’s narcotic log book revealed multiple instances where documentation in the book, including patient names, drug names and amounts, and dates had been scribbled over or marked through making the entry illegible.

“[T]he survey team noted the keys to the narcotic medications remained in the same, unsecured drawer in the back hallway. At that time, patients and staff were in the area and could have potentially accessed the keys. The staff present on 12/17/14, included staff whose job responsibilities would not have included access to medications.”

In its December 8 and 9, 2014 inspection report of the Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic, public health officials reported more lack of training on use of narcotics and a lack of proper documentation:

“A tour of the facility was conducted on 12/08/14 at approximately 1:30pm with Staff #1 (Administrator). Staff #1 reported all narcotics are stored in the double locked medication cabinet…. Staff #1 confirmed he/she is not licensed as a health professional. Staff #1 confirmed the narcotics are received by him/her from the vendor….A review was done of the Code of Virginia 54.1-3408 Professional use (of controlled substances) by Practitioners. There was no allowance for non-licensed persons to handle narcotic medications, even if under the supervision of a physician.

“A review of Staff #1 and Staff #2’s employee file were conducted on 12/08/14. Staff #1’s date of hire was 07/01/2000. Staff #1 has no professional license which would allow him/her to handle controlled substances. Staff #1 has no evidence of training in medications in his/her employee file. Staff #1 has a job description for administrator. Staff #2’s date of hire was 09/042004. Staff #2 has no professional license which would allow him/her to handle controlled substances. Staff #2 has evidence of attending nursing school and training in medications in his/her employee file. Staff #2 has job descriptions for alternate administrator and surgical laboratory technician.”

Then we have this little example:

In its July 9 and 10, 2014 inspection report from the Charlottesville Medical Center for Women, Department of Health officials watched as an unlicensed staff member did the following:

“… drawing up Fentanyl (a narcotic analgesic) and Versed (also termed Midozolam, a benzodiazepine) into a syringe. Staff #4 labeled the syringe with a marker and then brought the syringe to the bedside. Staff #5 (physician) started the patient’s intravenous line (IV) and then Staff#4 handed the syringe containing the Fentanyl and Versed to the physician, who then administered the medication. At no time were the contents of the syringe discussed between Staff #4 and Staff #5, nor was Staff #5 shown the vials from which the medications had been drawn.” When asked about the process, “Staff #4 stated that he/she regularly ‘drew up’ the Fentanyl and Versed for the administration by the physician…When asked how long Staff #4 had been drawing up medication for the doctor during procedures, Staff #4 stated that is has been for twenty (20) years. Staff #4 was asked if he/she was a licensed medical professional, and Staff #4 said, ‘no.’”

Unlicensed staff members were also transporting narcotics from one facility to another with no record or documentation. In fact, the facility had no records in accordance with federal and state laws regarding the drugs used at the facility. According to the inspection report:

The good news for the abortion industry? It is clearly being singled out by the state as being above the law. No need to worry about investigations or enforcement of drug laws. Nope. You see, forcing abortion centers to follow the law like any other “medical facility,” like they claim to be, would no doubt place an “undue burden” on a woman’s right to take the life of her unborn child. And we sure can’t have that! Keep women safe? Not a priority. Enforce the law? You’re kidding, right?

Allow anyone on staff to have access to drugs? No worries. We’ll just ignore all the laws and regulations that if violated any place else would result in serious legal repercussions. Of course, if you don’t keep records of the drugs you have, there’s no way to know if anyone has stolen anything anyway, right? Those poor idiots at the Richmond pharmacy who apparently kept records are really paying for it now! If only they did abortions in the back room. Then my guess is we’d have never heard anything about their little problem.

Besides, I’m sure we’ll hear how neither the Board of Pharmacy nor the Department of Health nor the Board of Health nor the Board of Medicine nor any other state entity has the “power” to close an abortion center. Somehow, in the day and age of an all-powerful central government that can do pretty much anything it wants, making sure abortion center’s follow the law is outside everyone’s authority.

So, don’t expect any newspaper headlines announcing the closing of any abortion centers. The abortion industry in Virginia, including its “doctors,” will continue to line their pockets with absolutely no concern with the law.

Our 2016 Summer Interns

Our 2016 Summer Interns

The Family Foundation’s summer internship program has grown over the years and attracts some incredibly talented college students. This year, our 2016 intern class is bright, fun-loving, creative, driven, and faithful. With dozens of students applying for a limited number of spots, the caliber of interns continues to improve. This summer, our interns are learning about each area of the organization, from policy research to social media outreach to grassroots activism and community organizing.

One aspect of our summer internship program that continues to evolve is in Biblical worldview training and discussion. Each Friday, our interns spend several hours hearing from various experts on different issues and participate in in-depth discussions of these topics. Our goal is to continue to expand this program in future years, and I look forward to announcing more about these plans in the coming months!

I hope you’ll enjoy the brief bios below and be sure to click on their names to read more about each of them:

Abbey Jessee (Development Intern; Radford University)Abbey returns to us after interning last summer. This is her second summer interning and she is very excited to be back again. She attended Radford University and graduated in May with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Sports Administration. A fun fact about Abbey is that she has broken her arms 5 times and her foot once. Although it has been a little over a year since she’s been clumsy and broken anything and her family is hoping that the streak continues!

Grace Saunders(Social Media Intern; University of South Carolina)Grace is the Social Media Intern at TFF this summer. She will be a junior next year at the University of South Carolina, Go Cocks! She is studying Library and Information Science with the hopes of minoring in Political Science, as her dream job is to be a political analyst. Her favorite sport is tennis and she considers herself to be the next Serena Williams. Peanut Butter and Chocolate are her two top favorite foods, so the way to her heart is Reece’s and Cookout Milkshakes. She obviously got the internship start date wrong because she didn’t show up until a month through the internship. She is well traveled and considers herself an expert in traveling abroad. Grace probably knows more than you so she considers humility her best quality

Richard Wiley(Policy Intern; Liberty University)Born in Jacksonville, Florida and presently living in Goochland, Virginia, Richard was drawn to The Family Foundation because of his interest in the interaction of church and state in local politics, particularly those in the Old Dominion. He was homeschooled for much of his primary education and studied with Liberty’s dual enrollment program to complete high school with an associate’s degree. Richard graduated with a bachelor’s degree in pre-law from Liberty this spring after spending time on the University’s policy debate team, moot court team, and SGA legal team.

Evan Withrow (Grassroots Intern; Christopher Newport UniversityEvan is an excellent candidate for the new British Prime Minister. After Britain voted to leave the EU last month, Prime Minister David Cameron decided he no longer wanted to steer Britain to its uncertain future and announced his resignation. The nation will be left looking for somebody come October and much to our excitement as the first American non-profit organization to endorse an all-American candidate for Prime Minister, Evan has agreed to act in this capacity should he be chosen, so long as he gets to keep his desk and his American accent. His experience includes, but is not limited to, diligent and faithful service to his country in his softball league for several years, two years of college education at Christopher Newport University studying communications (probably the undercover kind), and YouTube. We can’t guarantee that he’ll be selected by the present monarch due to a less than advantageous situation with the unionist party, but if he succeeds at gaining the position, he’ll leverage technical jargon against malefactors better than Humphrey Appleby ever did.

Cameron Dominy (Elections and Grassroots Intern; Charleston Southern University)Cameron is very much a Yankee…yet he wears Chubbies and goes to school at Charleston Southern University. Cameron is a Former Division One Javelin Thrower, but his competitive spirit carries over which is why he is currently serving as the President pro tempore for the CSU Student Government and is also the chairman of the CSU College Republicans. The South Carolina Student Legislature is lucky to have him as their chief of staff.

Introducing Abbey Jessee

Introducing Abbey Jessee

Abbey Jessee is the Development Intern at TFF this year. This is her second summer interning and she is very excited to be back again. She attended Radford University and graduated in May with a degree in Marketing and a minor in Sports Administration. One of Abbey’s favorite times in college was when she had the opportunity to intern with the Radford Athletic Department as a Sports Marketing Intern. During this internship she worked with multiple sports teams doing advertising and promoting sporting events on and off campus as well promotions and student involvement during game time.

After, she graduated college she decided that while still looking for a job it would be beneficial to have another internship under her belt in order to gain a little more experience. Coming back to The Family Foundation she was excited to learn more about fundraising and all of the efforts that go into garnering donors. After this internship she would like to get a job doing event planning for corporations.

Her favorite thing to do is go to Virginia Tech football games with her family. This has been a tradition that has been going on even before she was born and she attended her first football game at 4 months old and has only missed a couple home games. Her favorite game that she has been to so far was when Virginia Tech played Ohio State at OSU and Virginia Tech won the game! The atmosphere was by far the craziest she has ever seen it and OSU was one of her favorite stadiums that she has been to. Her favorite movie is Sweet Home Alabama, but Frozen does come in as a close second. A fun fact about Abbey is that she has broken her arms 5 times and her foot once. Although it has been a little over a year since she’s been clumsy and broken anything and her family is hoping that the streak continues!

Abbey is excited to see what God’s plan is for her after the internship!

Introducing Cameron Dominy

Introducing Cameron Dominy

This is Cameron Dominy’s second consecutive summer interning for The Family Foundation. He returns as a Grassroots intern this time around, after spending the previous year working in Elections.

A Connecticut native, Cameron’s family currently resides in the Blacksburg area. For the majority of the year, he studies Political Science and History at Charleston Southern University in South Carolina. At his college, Cameron leads the on Campus College Republicans Chapter, and serves as the President pro tempore of the Student Government Association. Last year, he was elected to be the Governor of the South Carolina Student Legislature, a student run and perpetuated organization with thirteen college delegations and over one hundred representatives. He will continue to serve in that capacity until the upcoming spring semester. Following graduation from college, Cameron plans on pursuing a graduate degree in Political Science at either George Mason or William and Mary.

Cameron enjoys reading, good tea, and all things Boston sports. He finds collections of Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short stories especially stimulating, and he frequently writes about current political issues. Cameron has a particular love for sarcasm, which much of his writing tends to reflect. He is also a former NCAA Division One athlete, as the threw the Javelin for Charleston Southern his Freshman year of college.

Cameron hopes that the experience and worldview training of two summers with the Virginia Family Foundation will allow him to be an effective voice for Christ across the American political system.